One Teacher's Adventures

I've been working on this unit for awhile and I'm so glad it's ready!  This unit has biographies, reading comprehension questions, maps, and puzzles for five Early Explorers to Canada - John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, Martin Frobisher, and Henry Hudson. In it, you'll find:   I've also included answer keys to all the questions and puzzles (except the Cartier maze).  Download the unit here ! Are there any other explorers you'd like to see in this unit?  Let me know in the comments below!

I've just finished my newest French unit for TpT.  This unit is designed for beginner students (Grades 4-7) and would be a great way to start off your year!   This complete unit includes reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities.   You'll get: -Vocabulary list -Create your own flash cards activity -Vocabulary crossword with answer key -Vocabulary quiz with answer key -Fill-in-the-blanks activity with answer key -5 pages of être activities (present tense, positive and negative formation, with answer keys) -Place prepositions vocabulary (dans, devant, derrière, près, etc.) -Preposition listening activity with variation ideas for differentiation -Reading activity (dans mon sac a dos, il y a...) -School dialogue activity Click here to download! If you don't need the whole unit, you can buy pieces of it separately.  Click on the pictures below for more information.

I've been hard at work completing my Community Buildings Clip Art Set and it's finally ready! The set comes with full colour and black and white versions of 13 different buildings.  Buildings include: -2 different house designs -cinema -church -school -police and fire stations -apartment building -bakery and supermarket -gas station -post office -hospital Click on the picture below to buy!

My Grade 8's are in the middle of a science unit on light and optics.  Last week, we were looking at the properties of shadows and why they are created.  It was a beautiful day, so I decided to bring my class outside to trace some shadows that they could find. I then challenged them to find an image in the shadow and fill in the details with lines and colour to create shadow art. The students saw animals, plants, objects, space, and underwater scenes.  I love the way they turned out and I really love that this was a simple activity that the kids enjoyed.  Plus, it can be done with any grade and with students at any level.  Here are some of their creations. Looking for more great tips and ideas for middle school? Subscribe to my email list and receive an exclusive FREE sub plans resource. It includes plans for math, ELA, science, social studies, and Core French. Click  here  to subscribe.

I've been inspired by the Flipbook Fairy!   In the past week, I've created three flip book projects for primary students and posted them in my TpT store . COMMUNITY HELPERS   My Community Helpers Flipbook is a 14-page book that asks students to give information about what each helper does, what tools they use, and how they help their communities.  Click here or on the pictures to see more.   PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES   The Provinces and Territories of Canada Flipbook includes a page for each province or territory with a map, flag, and space for students to fill in the capital city, population, bird, flower, and tree.  Click here or on the pictures for more information. SYMBOLS OF CANADA The Symbols of Canada Flipbook includes space on each page for the students to write about why the item symbolizes Canada (or anything else you'd like them to write!).  Click here or on the pictures for more informa...

Most of my Grade 8's don't love French class.  I think it's because they didn't get enough exposure to it in their Grade 5-7 years and by Grade 8, they are supposed to know a lot more than they actually know.   I try to make it fun and interesting for them, as I LOVE teaching French, but it wasn't working in my favour until I tried Verb Race.   We've been working on regular verbs since September, but the kids are still stuck on the conjugations.  A lot of my kids play sports, so I decided to turn practicing verbs into a competition.   I split my kids up into two teams.  On the white board, I wrote the personal pronouns je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles for both teams and a space for them to translate the verbs. One at a time, each team had to run up to the board and fill in one of the spaces.  They could either translate the verb or conjugate it for one of the pronouns.  The team who completed the relay first, with...

I'm lucky this year.   I share two Grade 8 classes full of kids who are genuine, respectful, and compassionate of others.  I talk with my partner teacher all the time about how nice our kids are.  I wanted to make sure that the students, themselves, knew how nice they are.  I decided to put up a "Finding Kindness" bulletin board in my room where students could recognize an act of kindness and post it for the other kids to see. After one day, it was already getting full!  It wasn't hard to find the kindness in our school, but I notice now that the kids are looking for it everywhere.  They want to be able to put up a post about other kids, not only in their own classes, but in the hallways, outside, and everywhere. Do you do something similar in your school?  Let me know in the comments below.